Millions needed to save San Clemente's vanishing beach

This is how the beach at the San Clemente Pier looked last spring, a groomed shelf of sand created by bulldozing sand and a large expanse of cobblestones closer to shore.FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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If you dumped 251,000 cubic yards of sand onto San Clemente High School's football field and track, you'd have a sand pile 46 feet high.

That's how much sand the Army Corps of Engineers is looking to plop onto San Clemente's shore on each side of the pier. It could happen in 2015 if Congress funds an initial $11.3 million restoration plan, which could repeat every six or so years for 50 years – total cost, $98.1 million.

The plan is the result of a $3.2 million study that took lessons from a San Diego County replenishment of 12 eroded beaches. San Clemente would pay half the cost by seeking grants from the California Department of Boating and Waterways, as the city did to pay for most of its share of the study. For the first round of sand, the federal government would pay $7.4 million, the city $3.9 million.

Every fall, San Clemente bulldozes sand from the water's edge onto the back of the beach to buffer facilities from winter erosion. So impressed were local leaders with this fall's new sand that the city ordered a second round of sand-pushing earlier this month. Spending money on a second push is a gamble, Reed said, but the sand was here for the taking.

“We've got probably the cleanest and nicest sand we've had in recent memory,” he said. “Last year we were pushing mostly cobble.”

Yet, no one who has watched the city's shore since 1983 thinks the new sand is anything but a fluke.

“The sand comes and goes on short cycles,” said Bill Hart, a local resident who chairs the Coastal Advisory Committee. “It's the long term you've got to look at. The trend is unmistakable.”

WHY IT'S A PRIORITY

The Army Corps determined it's in the national interest to nourish San Clemente's shore to protect facilities, the local economy and a strategic coastal rail corridor that's under attack. The railroad has had to dump rock riprap over the side to shore up the tracks, and the riprap then takes up more and more of Mariposa Beach. Waves bounce off the rock, eroding further. Periodic nourishments south of Mariposa – from Linda Lane to T-Street – are a way to stave off more armoring. Without replenishment, federal disaster relief could pile up in future El Niños, fighting to protect facilities as the beach disappears.

San Clemente hopes to get the project into a Water Resources Development Act bill in 2013. It won't guarantee funding, said Tom Bonigut, the assistant city engineer. The Army Corps figures the project's benefit-to-cost ratio at 1.4 to 1, which doesn't meet the government's standard of2.5 to 1. The city has lobbyists working to persuade the federal government.

WILL IT HURT THE SURF?

Dumping so much sand will impact the surf, but the corps' modeling study figures it will be short term as sand spreads out.

T-Street Beach, where a rocky bottom gives consistent shape to the waves, could see part of the reef covered by sand that could affect the shape of the waves. For how long? No one knows.

“The project is probably OK environmentally,” Surfrider Foundation's Mark Rauscher said. “They've done a pretty good job of mitigating impacts to the sea grasses … but also for surfing. We've been working with the corps office and will continue to work with them to develop a good monitoring program, especially at T-Street to make sure that surfing isn't impacted. The guy who did the modeling is also a surfer.”

Rauscher said the big question is “if something bad happens and the surf goes bad, and it turns into a big closeout at T-Street, then what?” The environmental study's answer was that future replenishment could be modified – putting the sand in different areas or using less sand.

WHAT IF THE GOVERNMENT SAYS NO?

City Manager George Scarborough says it's unlikely the city could fund the project with current resources, but failure of Congress to fund it in this budget year or next doesn't mean the federal government won't fund it later. The City Council could ask voters for a special tax to fund the work if the government says no, but he sees that as unlikely, too.

Bill Hart of the Coastal Advisory Committee said, “The eventual solution is either sand replenishment or the entire rail corridor will be lined with riprap.”

Mayor Bob Baker said, “It's a difficult issue, whether the federal government says yes or no. The numbers become astronomical.”

This is how the beach at the San Clemente Pier looked last spring, a groomed shelf of sand created by bulldozing sand and a large expanse of cobblestones closer to shore. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A view of how San Clemente Marine Safety Headquarters looks now. Contrast the amount of sand lost in the next photo to see how much has been lost. FRED SWEGLES, REGISTER FILE PHOTO
This was how San Clemente Marine Safety HQ looked in 1979-80 when this picture was taken to publicize signups for Junior Lifeguards. Compare that with how much lower the beach is today. FRED SWEGLES, REGISTER FILE PHOTO
In May 2008, workers construct a staircase leading from the train tracks to the beach at West El Portal in San Clemente. Note how the concrete landing was at sand level. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
This recent picture of San Clemente's El Portal stairway to the beach shows how much the beach has eroded since 2008 when the steps were built, with the concrete base stepping out onto sand. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Surfers return to their car in November at San Clemente's North Beach over a rocky landscape. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
During the San Clemente Ocean Festival in July, athletes had to run on a bed of cobblestones, dashing for the finish line. This fall, sand has filled in, but for how long, with winter erosion due? FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
This picture, taken in June, shows how San Clemente bulldozed sand up onto the beach to create a berm for beach towels. This fall, most of the cobblestone has been covered by sand imported by south swells. Winter erosion could soon take it away. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
This picture, taken in the spring, shows a stretch of cobble-covered beach that looks much nicer in recent weeks with a freshly deposited carpet of sand. Winter erosion could soon strip it away, restoring the cobble surface. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
During an epic 1983 El Nino season, the San Clemente Pier and stripped away beaches weren't the only victims. Refugees like this one came ashore and sought safety inside restrooms. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
This view of San Clemente Marine Safety HQ, shown in November, shows how the beach has eroded beneath the building since 1983 while, at left, the city has been pushing sand from the shore up onto the beach to try to protect facilities for the winter and hopefully preserve sand through winter erosion months. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
In November, natural forces deposited a fresh carpet of soft, clean sand onto the shore in San Clemente between Linda Lane Beach and south of T-Street Beach. The city, realizing that the gift could be lost to erosion this winter, hired a contractor to push sand onto the back of the beach to try to buffer beach facilities and store it there until spring. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
At right is the old, at left, the new. Fluffy, clean new sand has appeared recently along San Clemente's shore, and much of it now covers old rocky sand that the beach has deteriorated into during the last decade. FRED SWEGLES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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